Between the Wars
by oresmeltednotstirred
Summary: This fic tells the story of the time between XCOM and XCOM 2, with a canon XCOM victory in the first game. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. Thanks for reading!
1. Aftermath

**Thirty minutes after Temple Ship explosion**

Immediately upon hitting the deck back at base, the soldiers poured from the craft. The entire base personnel poured out to greet them, cheering and clapping their hands. As the titanic MECs and the Archangel-armored troopers made their way towards the debriefing room, the crowd shrank back, afraid to touch the bodies of these men and women made demigods by the force of their effort. The operatives, legends, rising stars in the cosmos of human heroism, it seemed, just wanted to take a break. The doors of the briefing room hissed open. The Commander and Bradford were the only ones inside. Normally, a returning squad would be greeted by a cavalcade of scientists, engineers, and analysts after returning.

"Kislewski, tell me what happened." Bradford's voice had softened from its usual edge as he queried the squad commander.

"It's simple, Sir. He grabbed the Gollop device, then blasted us out of the cockpit and sealed the doors. We had no choice but to evacuate."

"No one's blaming you, Kislewski." Again, Bradford's words were soft, almost like he was addressing a distressed child.

"And he took it up, and you saw it from there. Sir, permission to add Michaels to the wall?"

"Don't worry Kiz, we will. He'll be remembered like no one else has ever been on the planet." Bradford continued, "Commander, do you have any further questions for the men?"

"I don't Bradford." Weariness had crept in beneath his voice. "Make sure they're taken care of."

Early in the morning, the base was quiet. Bradford, who had declined the celebrations in order to chaperone the rowdy party, walked into the central hologlobe room. The board was clear and green. The wealth of the information available from satellites and the hyperwave relay were displayed, but no analysts sat at the banks of computers. Taking it all in, Bradford noticed a sliver of light peaking from beneath the door of the Command Office. As he climbed the stairs, he ran through his mind the speech and subsequent dressing down of the soldiers who had dared crawl into the office in their drunken celebrations.

He grasped the handle and threw the door open. There were no drunken soldiers or technicians, just the Commander, sitting in the chair that had jokingly been remodeled by the engineering staff to resemble the bridge chair from Star Trek.

Bradford queried, "Something keeping you up sir?"

The Commander replied, "The telemetry from the troops. The broadcast from the Uber Ethereal. It's worrying. The idea that this was just a test, that there may be even more forces out there that we've never seen before, that there could be something beyond the Ethereal just waiting to come and conquer us. This project has been the most consuming one of my life, and I'm afraid that it will take more than just this ragtag team to stop them if they come back for real. We may have Firestorms and the best technology ever developed by mankind, but we cannot simply reveal our existence. It would destabilize the world political system and cause even more infighting over who would be allowed to keep our technology as their own. Even if we do go public, I'm not convinced that we wouldn't become the world police, called in to fight internecine wars and keep the peace because we can.

We have to stay on guard. That's the worrying thing. With the destruction of the Temple Ship, I'm concerned that the Council nations will just start to pull their funding as the threat decreases and any remaining pockets of aliens disappear. We have to keep the hyperwave relay active. We have to track any further incoming threats. Without these things, we're sitting ducks if they do come back.

And we have to make sure our people are taken care of. Our MECS...what's to become of them? We can't reveal that we basically turned people into giant robots so that we could get the edge on aliens! There would be riots and they would be ostracized, or worse, killed. Our genetically modified soldiers can probably go back to their original billets, but who would want to? A life in the normal army, when you previously defended all of humanity? No, all these things are keeping me up, Bradford, and there's no easy way to make sure that we can do what we need to do now that the threat is over."


	2. Cutbacks

**One year after Operation Avenger**

Dr. Vahlen surveyed the laboratory one final time before turning off the lights with a click and closing the doors to the sound of a gush of pneumatic pressure. She heard footsteps coming through the corridor and turned to see Bradford moving down the hallway towards her.

"Here to see it one last time, Central Officer?" she asked, teasing him by using his formal title.

"Of course Doctor. I'm sorry we had to close it down, but with some cuts already starting to take effect, we had no choice." Bradford's tone was remorseful. It hadn't been an easy year already. Nations were so impressed with the spectacular victory over the Temple Ship that many of the Commander's warnings of continued vigilance had fallen on deaf ears. Several countries had already informed XCOM through the Council liasion that they would be reducing their contributions to the project.

"Were you able to find places for your people to go?" he asked.

"Of course, Bradford. No lab in the world want to turn down people who were this close to the alien technology. While every single scientist in this lab is loyal the secrets of XCOM, I'd imagine that what they know can help guide the course of research towards useful paths in the future."

"And Doctor, you have the bead right? Just in case."

"Bradford, I injected it myself before I shut the lab down. Make sure the Commander doesn't accidentally recall me while trying to order a pizza, would you?" Vahlen chuckled at the thought.

"Of course not Doctor. The Skyranger will take you back to the city of your choice."

As Bradford turned and kept moving down the corridor, Vahlen called, "Wait!"

He stopped and turned to her. She extended a hand. "It's been an honor," she said.

"Likewise, Doctor."

After both Bradford and the Doctor had left the corridor, the motion detecting lights turned off one by one, leaving the science facilities in the dark.

 **Five years after Operation Avenger**

The Skyranger cleared the great doors at the top of the vertical shaft and jetted across the sky, taking with it Dr. Shen and the last engineering personnel. Only a skeleton crew remained to man the Hyperwave Relay and complete the mothballing of the Firestorms, the most recent casualty of the continued cutbacks that XCOM had been forced to make as alien activity and consequently funding decreased drastically. The last mission that had forced a squad deployment had just been a rogue pack of Sectoids inside a shipping container. The lone MEC that had gone out to investigate had returned unscathed with only slight cleaning required for its Kinetic Fist. Contact had become more and more scarce as conventional militaries had also hunted down aliens, including a fight with a Muton that had nearly leveled a suburban subdevelopment after the U.S. military had been forced to call in helicopter gunships to penetrate its armor.

As the doors closed, Bradford turned to see the Commander standing in the doorway, gazing upwards wistfully.

"I know you didn't want to phase them out, sir. But you had to make a hard choice."

"Of course Bradford. You think I of all people don't know that? The truth is that our troops and our intelligence facilities have to come first. It almost makes me wonder if we should seek private donors to help maintain what little capabilities we have left."

"Sir, I think that private donors could potentially turn us into EXALT. If necessary, these people are dedicated enough to live here in exchange for room and board. We picked people without much in the way of family for a reason. The problem is that I've been running projections. And if get cut even further, we can literally support none of our troops or MECs. In fact, the-"

The Commander cut him off. "I know Bradford. We can't expect people to merely subsist here. At worst, we do have our hidden accounts. We can set up a schedule for Hyperwave Relay scans. We can even treat them like XCOM reunions. I won't let a lack of funds now destroy humanity later."


	3. Brave New World

**Ten years after Operation Avenger**

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. – The governments of the world announced today that they have provisionally agreed to the Advent Accords, which would unite them into one administration. In a statement, the leaders who had signed the accord said it would help "bring peace to a world that has been wracked by international conflict for far too long," continuing on to say that people's daily lives would be mostly unchanged or improved for the better by the new administrative structure. The statement also went on to talk about the benefits that had been reaped by uniting research efforts worldwide and that uniting nations as well could only improve the shared success of humanity.

The previous Advent Accords were a series of documents designed to increase international cooperation in areas such as scientific research and medical treatment, with a special focus on alien technology being used responsibly after the invasion. Other supplemental deals on areas of maritime salvage and fisheries also enjoyed general success and acclaim from the community of nations. The most recent summit that generated these accords seems to have gone further however. The question of national sovereignty has already been raised by some radical factions in the U.S. House of Representatives, but the benefits of the previous Advent Accords seem to have won over most the political spectrum in all of the countries that have signed them and seen the expected benefits.

For more coverage of the astounding, unprecedented Advent Accords, check out our coverage hub on our main page.

Cardea Adams, New York Times

 **Village in Brittany, France – Advent Announcement Celebration**

The cheers of people outside kept him awake. Fireworks boomed and echoed, in what would no doubt become the greatest of the new national holidays: Advent Day. The Commander moved to the window. The celebrations had not yet turned excessively rowdy. No cars had been flipped over or buildings burned, and as he watched local Advent supporters carouse, he couldn't help but smile. People seemed to be genuinely happy about the final steps being taken towards worldwide unification. The alien menace seemed to actually have come and gone like a stormy spring.

He brought up his phone software, and punched the first speed dial button. Since the second day of his command, that button had always called Bradford. The Commander chuckled as he remembered putting the number all those years ago after struggling to find it in the base directory. Bradford had subtly chastised him for not being able to reach his executive officer at any given point in time. When the base had come under attack from a massive surge of mind controlled XCOM personnel and aliens, he had barely had time to press the button to alert Bradford as to what was happening. And now he pressed it again, to seek the counsel of the man who had gone even further away from the world than the Commander.

Bradford picked up halfway through the first ring.

"Sir?"

"Damn Bradford, aren't you asleep right now? What time is it there?"

"Not late enough for me to sleep yet. Are you calling about the unification news?"

"Yeah. What do you think? Is it the right decision?"

"Sir, if the aliens come back, they'll have to fight a much more unified force. By the same token, they'll only have to defeat one political entity as well."

"I'm talking about the right decision. Not the one that makes us more or less efficient at repelling extraterrestrial invaders. Will this be better for people in general?"

"Your guess is as good as mine sir."

"Fair enough Bradford. You haven't heard anything shady about the inside of these guys right? Like it seems to be on the up and up?"

"Everyone in every community I have contacts in says it's a normal popular movement, politicians just happen to be latching on to it. I think they saw their weakness, sir, during the invasion. I don't think they want to feel that weak again."

"Very well. Sorry to disturb you Bradford."

"Not at all. It's a pleasure, sir"

Hanging up the phone, he looked again out the window. The crowd had swelled and it seemed like the entire population of the village was present. The Commander ducked out into the street and found himself carried along in the waves of happiness radiating from the crowd. Maybe peace was here to stay after all.


	4. One Old Friend

_Author's note: I've decided to release this chapter a little early because the story does start a bit slowly. This is the beginning of the build to conflict, and so after this the updates will come a little more slowly. As an idea about how much I have written, this installment will bring me up to 2800ish words published. The current running doc is 8000+ words, and I can easily see it going longer than that. I hope you're enjoying this so far and if you have critiques or comments feel free to message me privately or post a review. Without further ado:_

 **Nine years, three months after Advent Unification, Village in Brittany, France**

The outdoor movies were a new program, sponsored by the village council to encourage community and show old films from around the turn of the millennium. This week's showing was _The Usual Suspects_. The Commander smiled at the park staff as he walked in. His eyes searched the crowd, looking for a particular face. He found him under a tree, eyes glowing faintly in the shadow. It was hard for psionics to hide their powers, especially when genetic modifications had changed their bodies even further.

Still, every day it seemed like a new gene therapy had been discovered by Advent scientists. Clinics were starting to spring up where ordinary public could even apply for the new modifications. When he had called Dr. Vahlen about the clinics, she had refused to give him a straight answer because she was in charge of some of their administration. While her refusal had been puzzling, she had always been so committed to her job that he couldn't fault her. A quick check with some other former XCOM scientists revealed that the Meld used by Advent came from stocks found during and after the war, but the nine years that had passed since the war had seen great improvements in efficiency. During the war, the genetic modifications to soldiers had been physically taxing and Meld intensive. One scientist the Commander spoke to said that because the processes were offered so widely, he was still glad that Meld was practically abundant for research purposes.

His mind snapped back to former U.N. General Peter van Doorn as he approached the base of the tree. "You're practically glowing, general," he teased.

"I know, Commander," van Doorn responded. "I can suppress it if I need to, but I've been retired for so long that no one's going to pay attention to an old bald guy whose eyes are a little funky."

"How have you been? It's been a while."

"Oh you know, having most, if not all of the fun possible these days. I think the gene-mod stuff really gave me a new lease on life. And my kids keep telling me about their neighbors who are going to one of those new clinics. I think the stuff that Vahlen and her team cooked up seems to have benefited a lot more people than just the team. Do you talk to any of them?"

The Commander paused and thought. After a brief silence, he replied, "No. And that's a shame, to be honest. I wish I talked to them more. The most often contact is with the MEC farm, and they're doing just fine. They started growing their own crops, so it's quite literally a farm now."

"I always wondered how Bradford got the Russians to look the other way on that."

The Commander chuckled. "Basically, he personally guaranteed the safety of the Russian prime minister from the aliens during the war. Then they turned it over to XCOM when the Temple Ship exploded. They really honored their end of that deal. But back to staying in touch with the rest of the team."

He continued, "What do you think Peter? Would you want to get the gang back together? Maybe even at the old base if we can convince Advent to let us. You'd get to see all the MECs and we could commemorate twenty years since this whole thing ended."

"Hell yes, Commander! I'm surprised no one's done it already."

"I think that we sort of split out wider than other military units. Especially the MECs and the genetically modded, and the psionics. It's hard to interact with your comrades sometimes, let alone normal people. I'll see what I can do to set this thing up.

The movie was already underway as they stopped talking. It was a crime film from the decade before the new millennium. The Commander felt lost as he tried to follow the jerky narrative structure, from the crime scene, to jail, to an interrogation, and a mysterious man who no one could name. As the movie ended, the cops realized that the man they had been interrogating was the mastermind all along. As a flustered detective chased after the newly revealed villain in vain, the narrator's voice said, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

The applause was muted, but the moviegoers left buzzing about the exciting twist ending. The Commander pondered the message as he walked home, dictating messages to the people he needed to make the reunion idea happen.

 _Thanks to /u/nanopaladin for catching a typo in this chapter._


	5. On the Precipice

_I think I like author's notes too much, but I want to keep leaving them. This chapter is a little longer than the others. I don't know if I can keep the chapter lengths consistent honestly, which is annoying but not too bad I think. This is where shit begins to hit the fan. I know it's been a little bit of a slow burn, but the accelerant is starting to catch fire. So strap in and get ready. Also, regarding an update schedule, I think I'm going to go between daily and every two days. Without further ado, enjoy._

 **Ten years after Advent Unification, former XCOM Base**

The gathering of personnel in Mission Control was much smaller than Bradford remembered. Then again, not everyone could make it back for the first reunion of all branches of personnel in ten years, which was unfortunate. He watched Kislewski lead a toast to the hard work of the war and the continued dedication of the attendees. After the initial gathering, the reunion split out by section as troops reminisced with other soldiers and the support staff coalesced in to little groups to talk about their own lives.

Among the troops, the MECs stood out like sore thumbs. Unable to return to society like the less drastically modified troops, the MECS had set up their own colony in the reaches of the Russian tundra, in an old XCOM hangar that they had converted. A non-insignifcant amount of XCOM's remaining funds had been diverted to make sure that the mechanized soldiers had been taken care of in the aftermath of what many people called the "Scattering," when the soldiers had finally been forced to leave the barracks and return to their home nations. Each of them had left with a share of the absurd bounty from the sale of XCOM's stores on the grey market. The Commander had authorized the sales as XCOM no longer had active research programs. The only thing that had been maintained were the Firestorms, which, still mothballed, were too valuable to give up. They sat dormant, behind false doors well below any construction that had been done while the war had been going on. Bradford called them the "Caverns of Last Resort," a name that the Commander felt was over the top but not entirely inaccurate.

As Bradford walked by the soldiers, Kislewski called out to him, "Hey Bradford! What do you think of all these 'advancements' that the Advent administration has been working on? It sure is _entirely unaticipated_ that all of these technologies that have _never existed before_ are happening, right? I sure would like to see a genetically modded person some day, or someone with advanced cybernetics," she continued sarcastically.

Bradford replied with the same sarcasm, "I don't know what you're talking about Kiz. I'd suggest you ask Dr. Vahlen about any scientific developments if she's free."

The assembled troops all chuckled and went back to swapping stories as Bradford moved further into the party.

A dinging from the front of the room caught the attention of everyone gathered. The Commander climbed onto a table and an instant and total hush fell over the room. The speech began in a tone manner that Bradford immediately recognized as serious and out of the normal character of the reunions.

"I'd first like to thank you all for coming," The Commander began. "I know that you have all traveled far to be with your friends from the old days and to help us fire up the Hyperwave Relay for the last time. But it has been almost two decades without major alien activity, and our funds continue to drain. It seems unlikely that we will be able to continue to use the Hyperwave Relay unless this project were to be restarted at a reasonable level of funding. I have had to make the decision between continuing to provide for our troops who cannot reintegrate into society and scanning with the Relay. So barring a sudden infusion of governmental funds, this is the final reunion that we shall have in this base. I'm sorry to gell you all this so suddenly. But there is a plan that I have been testing since we were forced to close down. Dr. Vahlen, please explain."

The blond scientist joined the Commander on the table. "I have been testing a communications bead that is implanted subcutaneously. The bead can relay messages discreetly to a personal communications device. This will allow all of XCOM to keep in contact now that we must go our separate ways. The Commander will explain the necessity of this action further."

After taking a brief drink of water, he speaking. "After today, we must go wide. We have to scatter into plain sight in order to prevent us from being wiped out as a large group. I am worried about the possibility of the aliens returning. And because of the unification under Advent, it has begun to worry me that we could fall in one swift move. One reason we were able to fight the aliens in 2015 was that some governments were willing to support us even while others pulled out. The movement seemed too altruistic when it started, but recent reports I've received from contacts in the government are troubling. Some people seem to believe that there is a sinister purpose to this unification. Advent cities seem to be the utopian future of which we have dreamed, but something about them seems...off. The last time I felt like this, the base was hit and we lost Rodriguez.

At this, the crowd broke into low whispers in memoriam of the valiant Scout, who had been killed fighting against a massive assault on the XCOM base during the invasion. Waiting until the muttering had stopped, the Commander continued,

"If XCOM scatters, becomes the anathema of a united unit, then maybe we can resist should the aliens return. For some of you this may seem drastic, and I will not force anyone to take a comm chip. But this is just the first step in leaving behind a legacy of XCOM.

Our MEC troopers will be responsible, along with any soldier that wishes to join them, in inducting a new rookie class at the MEC Haven in Russia. It is here that we will train new rookies in the event of an alien return. I've spoken with our MECs and they agree. Kislewski will command the base. This training facility will be the only centralized version of XCOM remaining one week from now. As for this base, too many people know where it is already. We'll truly be closing the doors for the last time. Bradford and I will maintain the ability to reopen it if disaster strikes.

That concludes my speech. The sign ups for subcutaneous transmitters will be circulated throughout the party as we wind down."

The furor created by the end of the speech echoed throughout the cavernous room with no sign of cessation. Some in the room questioned whether he was tilting at windmills, or moving too drastically. However, the immense respect for the strategic and tactical genius the Commander had shown in the war quelled those concerns immediately. The former operatives and staff unanimously decided to receive the implants from Vahlen. One by one, they filed through the med bay, flinching as the chip went in before moving on to test its capabilities.

As far as global communications went, the chips were relatively simple. Through the chips, officers of command level, Bradford, and the Commander could send messages to part or all of XCOM if necessary. The tracking potential of the chips was minimal as all others outside the command chains were completely passive in nature. In the event of the death of high ranking command staff, the chips would devolve the sending privileges to the next highest ranked survivor.

The Skyranger flew the guests in waves to the nearest commercial airport. There they met flights that would take them home. As he watched the Skyranger return to base for the last time, the Commander breathed a sigh of relief that regardless of what happened going forward, some part of XCOM would survive.

From a console, an analyst for the Advent satellite coverage systems noticed an unidentified type of ship moving to and from an island in South Japan. He flagged the anomaly, and forwarded it to his supervisor for further review. The his supervisors tagged each person getting onto flights that had gotten off the odd aircraft. And where they went was fed into a system that connected the surveillance with security forces worldwide.


	6. Collapse

**Brittany, France – One day after Final Reunion**

Alarms woke him. PERIMETER BREACHED echoed through the room as the Commander snapped up in bed, gasping. He rolled to the floor and PERIMETER BREACHED rang out again while he grabbed a plasma pistol and a chitin plating from a compartment in the bedframe. Strapping on the armor plating, he pulled up the security monitors as PERIMETER BRE- was cut off mid tone with a button press. At the same time, he pulled the comm bead interface and set it to broadcast a simple message: "Advent are aliens. Group at the MEC farm." repeated over and over. The Commander then turned from his attention to the monitor, where a Sectoid Commander was directing two soldiers to blow open the gate of his fence.

 **XCOM Base**

"Go go go! You have fast rope clearance! Engage engage engage!"

The howl of the chopper couldn't mask the whizz of the zip line as Captain James Marcus jumped out of the helicopter and landed on the massive hatch. His boots clanked on the surface as his squad joined them.

Over the rotors thwacking to keep the helicopter stable, he shouted into his throat microphone, "Use the codes! But stop it part way!"

Almost immediately there was a wide band burst of static, blasting the open signal to the doors. They began to retract horizontally, then stopped after exposing a crack ten feet across. The team attached backup rappels and descended into the cavern.

The operation was, according to his higher ups in the Advent Administration, a counterterror operation against a group that had claimed the name of XCOM, even though the defense agency had been dissolved after the first alien invasion had been repelled. The base had reportedly been taken over by these insurgents who would do everything in their power to attack the Advent. The briefing said that satellite imagery had notice a congregation of people who had dispersed around the world the previous day, but some had stayed behind to coordinate the terrorist group.

The corridors base had an eerie glow of half powered lights. There were recent signs of habitation, like the new trash and lack of dust. Still, James kept his guard up as door after door was opened and then closed after no one appeared.

An hour later, he radioed back to the chopper, "Negative contact in the base, Command. We have no activity down here."

The flat voice of Central Command responded, "Very well. Return to base for additional deployment orders."

As Marcus' helicopter turned for the base, he watched out the window as fat bellied transport helicopters descended, disgorging investigators to decipher the secrets of the terrorist hideout.

 **Melbourne, Australia**

The sun was starting to descend towards the sea as Shen sat down in balcony chair and downloaded a copy of the latest _Nature Nanotechnology_ and began to read about developments in nanotechnology made possible by Meld. He chuckled at the problems that teams of scientists were still facing in using the substance for more advanced applications. After the war, he and the other engineers had sworn never to tell anyone about their experiences working with the Meld in order to both protect themselves and extent of XCOM's use of the Meld in creating super soldiers.

His tablet buzzed with a door notification. Activating the intercom, he looked at the hallway security camera. A policeman with the standard Advent uniform stood squarely, holding his badge towards the lens.

"What can I do for you officer?"

"Sir, I have a warrant for your arrest. Please open the door."

The buzzing of the comm bead caught Shen before he could respond. Reading the message, his heart sank. He had no weapons, and no way out. He moved slowly towards the door, gauging the possibility that he could dash past the officer to the stairs. But the weight in the pit of his stomach jumped as he heard loud pops from the hallway. On the monitor, two figures in XCOM fatigues moved in from the elevator bays, weapons raised. The officer had collapsed to the ground, shot through the head twice. A new voice came on over the intercom.

"Sir, we received a coded instruction that we were to extract you to the MEC farm regardless of Advent interference. My name is Kevin Ricter. This is my partner, Lily Desance. We're part of the new rookie class that was scheduled to ship out soon."

"How do you have transmitters?" Shen asked. "Weren't those reserved for previous personnel?"

Lily responded, "They were, Doctor. But the Farm is in contact with the new rookie class. Everyone has been recalled."

"And the Commander?"

"He sent that message. And then transmission capability devolved to the senior personnel at the Farm. We have to presume he's either dead or captured."

Shen stood in the hallway, numb. The Commander dead? Who would provide the vision, the leadership for XCOM in this new fight? Could anyone?

Noticing the old man's shock, Lily gently grabbed his arm. "Come on doctor, we have to go. Our boat will not wait."


	7. Damage Assessment

_Today is the day XCOM 2 gets revealed on livestream! Hype! In other news, I'm currently moving between places, but I should have enough material to keep publishing every two days. I'm really excited about the developments going on in the master doc right now. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

 **MEC Farm, Siberia, Russia – Two Hours Later**

"Are you kidding me? That's it?" Acting Commander Kislewski paced back and forth in her office. "Only four other people are confirmed to have made it out? How did we spend years fighting literal aliens only to lose the majority of our remaining personnel to the freaking police?"

"Commander, I know you're concerned. But these raids went off very smoothly. They were extremely high speed, low drag operations. Most of our personnel have been swept up, and disappeared into Advent prisons. The news is even saying that we tried to steal the legacy of XCOM by using their name for our group. We're being branded as terrorists."

Bradford's voice came in crystal clear over the satellite uplink. The Central Officer was en route to the Farm via an old Russian military helicopter that he had purchased from underground contacts.

"Bradford, you know you're not supposed to call me that."

"In the event that bead comms devolve their sender privileges to you, I am, sir. Given that the Commander is MIA, either dead or captured, you are in command of XCOM."

"Don't lecture me, Bradford. I'll go by Colonel if you want a title."

"Very well, sir. I've contacted all of the surviving members who we know got free. You'll be happy to hear that your rookies managed to bail Shen out."

"And Vahlen?"

"Currently unknown, sir. We'll hopefully hear from her and the Commander soon."

"Alright, Kislewski out."

The connection closed and Kislewski sighed heavily. The news reports were bad. The narrative that every station seemed to have latched on to was that a group calling themselves XCOM had taken over the old base used against aliens in the first invasion in order to launch terror attacks on Advent cities. News anchors condemned the appropriation of the name of Earth's former defenders so earnestly that Kislewki thought it was satire on the first channel she tuned into. A panel of news personalities railed against anyone who would seek to brand themselves as the heroic, but mysterious organization that had fought to victory against the aliens and then disbanded, virtually destroyed by the war. Additional footage showed police and SWAT teams kicking down doors and hauling out prisoners in multiple locations across the globe. She recognized every single soldier that was hauled out in handcuffs for a perp walk and even remembered the name of the some of the support staff that were dragged away in a decidedly less violent manner. She continued to watch, and with each face she saw being pulled away from their lives for wanting to defend Earth, she made an effort to write down their name on a list of personnel to be returned to freedom, one way or another.

A knock startled her out of her work, struggling to remember the name of the engineer who had always tinkered with the SHIVs early in war as he was stuffed into a police car on screen. She pressed one button to mute the television and a second to open the door.

Briefly turning her back to the door to catch the last news on the ticker, a gentle clanking on the floor told her who the visitor was. Lieutenant Abeba walked in, his cybernetic limbs whirring slightly as he put his hand on conference table.

"Comma- Colonel," he started, fumbling the title in what Kislewski suspected would be the first but not the last such misstep, "They're requesting you down in the situation room. We've uncovered some...disturbing intel."

The situation room was abuzz with chatter as Kislewski walked in. The room quickly quieted in the presence of the acting Commander.

"Go back to your duties," she said, cognizant of the stares directed at her as she booted up the Commander's console at the front of the room. "Intel, give me what you've got. Where the hell is Bradford? He should be telling me this."

"Right here Colonel," said Bradford, emerging from a crowd of staff in his trademark green sweater. He walked over to deliver the briefing, limping slightly as he did so. Kislewski noticed and queried, "Are you injured?"

"Only a twisted ankle. I had to jump out of an apartment on the second floor of my building in order to get away from the those freaking cops they sent after me. Didn't land as well as I would have liked. Should be better in a week or two."

"Good to hear Bradford, now break it down for me."

"Well, the rookies who we had watching Doctor Shen were able to retrieve him, as I communicated to you earlier. But the ones who were supposed to retrieve Vahlen recorded this." Bradford flicked an audio file from his tablet onto hers. "Listen to what she had to say."

Kislewski clicked play with trepidation. The recording began with a burst of static, then "Doctor Vahlen, you need to come with us." The voice sounded like a worried, yet determined young man.

"That's one rookie," Bradford interjected.

"Doctor, do you have any weapons in the apartment you can bring with you?" asked a slightly deeper male voice.

"And that's the other one," Bradford said.

Vahlen's voice followed a pause of a few seconds. "Gentlemen, I will not be going with you. And no, I have no weapons here. Now put down the guns or the police will surely fire on you once they arrive."

"You don't understand, Doctor," the first voice broke in "the Commander has issued a recall order for all of XCOM."

"I believe I do understand. I choose not to go. His nonsensical 'Advent are aliens' message means nothing to me. I will stay here and continue to work in my lab. This is merely the paranoia of a man who is paranoid about the government. While these arrests are nonsense and will be sorted out by the justice system, I can't help but think that the Commander has succumbed to paranoia brought on by post-traumatic stress disorder."

Kislewski realized she had been clutching her tablet harder and harder as Vahlen spoke. Hitting pause, she burst out, "Damnit Vahlen! Why do you have to be so naive! We fought aliens together. You know what they're capable of."

Bradford replied, "There are three possible options. One is that she's being mind controlled. The second is that she's playing a double game, and wants to stay on the inside to supply us with information. The third is that she really is willing to collaborate with them despite the Commander's warning. Until we know which one, she should be considered a hostile party."

"And just throw her work away, Bradford?" retorted Kislewski "Do we really have to disregard the service she gave during the war and the years after?"

"Comm- Colonel. Dr. Vahlen's chips might have been how they tracked us in order to capture so many people. This base is pretty tightly Faraday caged, but we have to be aware of the possiblity that she inadvertently or purposefully led the Advent to our people, and might lead them here."

"Shit. I hadn't even considered that. Sorry for the outburst, Bradford."

"It's okay Colonel. These are trying times for all of us."

"What else is on the docket?" Kislewski moved on. "Do any of our people need help getting here?"

"We have rookies bringing in a couple others whom they were near. Shen of course, but no one else as far as I'm aware Colonel."

"And the Commander?" Kislewski fought to keep desperation out of her tone. But the way Bradford's shoulders slumped were telling. He felt it too.

"We don't know Colonel. We just don't know. I'm sorry. Permission to be dismissed?"

"Granted."

As Bradford walked away towards the hologlobe, Kislewski turned her back closed her eyes. She wished as hard as she could that the Commander would be found safe and returned to them. On her list of names of all the personnel that had been captured by the Advent, she moved each name down a number and typed in "The Commander" at the top. What would they do without the Commander? Who else had the ability to take on a task like this? She stared at the list a little longer, then sighed and turned back to the situation at hand.


	8. Thin Ray of Light

Location Unknown – 3 hours after crackdown

"Submit." The voice droned from the corner.

He blinked once and remembered. But he blinked again and room went hazy. He felt a push on his brain and walled it immediately. He blinked a third time.

The room snapped painfully into focus. A speaker on the wall. A slot on the door. He could neither lay down to full extension nor sit up to his height. He had been trapped on the diagonal long enough that his neck and back had stopped actively hurting and now just felt leaden.

Another psi probe came in, but he stopped it easily. The interrogators were careful now. The initial assault had been brutal and overwhelming. But once he had stabilized he had managed to turn the psi attack back on its source and brutally scour the mind of the Sectoid Commander who had sent the probe. Through his victim's eyes, he had seen the pistol come around to execute the compromised alien. The probes after that had been little tickles and presses, at all times and from multiple sources. Looking for weakness where it could be exploited, where his mind could be stripped.

They had told him the list of names of the people they had captured, the list of names, so heartbreakingly long. He had wept for every technicican, every engineer, every scientist, and most of all his troops. The men and women from all over the world, who had fought and bled for the freedom of humanity. Who had taken on mission after mission without fail, had dodged death by plasma and worse thousands of times, only to be captured now before they could truly act on his recall order.

There was a kernel of hope. The interrogators made no mention of the MEC Farm, and Bradford, Shen, and Vahlen were uncaptured, from the sound of it. He thought of Kislewski, the valiant operative who had been dragged off the Temple Ship by her squad, she unwilling to leave a man behind, and her squad unwilling to lose two of their number on the mission. They would have to carry on. They would have to somehow break the backs of an administration that had conquered not by force, but by prosperity. Against an alien enemy hidden so well that any rumor that they even existed would be quashed. As the psi probing returned, tickling his parietal lobe, he hunkered down and hoped.

MEC Farm, Renamed to XCOM Headquarters – One week after crackdown

A patrol of blue shirts on training exercises marched through the corridor, stopped at the junction, and assumed firing positions along the walls. The stretches of wall near every corner were notched with deep alcoves on every side, providing superb cover against any hostile force attempting to breach the base. One of their number poked his head around the corner and promptly dove back, hitting the floor with a clatter. A barrage of paintballs flew through the space he had formerly occupied. One of his comrades popped out and fired a barrage as well, as the squad stacked up on the side of the hallway not exposed to fire from the right. A corporal shouted orders and obscuring grenades were thrown down the hall towards the source of the fire, followed by a number of paint grenades. After a second volley of paint grenades was practically catapulted down the hallway by a former college baseball pitcher, shouts came to end the exercise.

Kislewski approached the force that had so liberally used the grenades to secure themselves a victory. They arrayed themselves in a line for inspection, their equipment perfectly standard excepting the paintball guns instead of their real rifles. She moved down the line, and stopped at the hero of the exercise, the grenade throwing guard.

"Name and rank soldier?" she queried.

"Private First Class Alexander Ilbiati, Sir!"

"How many grenades did you expend on the force you faced today Private?"

"Sir, I threw five grenades. One of my own and four of my squadmates', Sir!."

"And do you think that was the correct decision, Private?"

"Sir, I do yes sir!"

"What happens when you run across the next squad Private? And you need more grenades? Only to find that your wasteful overkill has left you and your squad high and dry! I expect better munitions discipline from this outfit! You are not going to fight one squad at a corner, you are going to fight ten at ten corners! Or more! And making your consumables last, treating them like they're actually valuable for more than just the immediate situation, is one hundred percent necessary! Am I understood!"

The excitement of the squad dissipated as the words struck them. In a more docile tone, the squad voiced in unison, "Sir yes sir."

Kislewski continued, directing her words at the squad that had been decimated by the grenades, "As for you Green Squad, learn to spread! It's a disgrace these chuckleheads even managed to kill you! You'll have the Saturday night shift instead of Yellow Squad."

This announcement brought a cheer from Yellow Squad as they began to slap the private on the back in congratulations. Kislewski felt her pager buzz from her pocket. Pulling it out, Bradford's code appeared. She barked a brief command at the security squads, "Clean up this mess! Then fall out and prepare for class on moving safely using suppression!" before moving back up the corridor towards her office.

Bradford waited for her there, grim-faced as usual. He handed Kislewski a stack of paper. She noticed that his middle and ring finger were sporting two new bandages.

She inquired, "How'd you get those?"

Bradford replied, irritated but with a hint of irony. "I cut myself on this report. The move back to lower tech to avoid tracking has not come without its sacrifices."

Kislewski laughed. "All of XCOM appreciates your dedication officer. What's the report?"

Bradford went back to being full-on serious, or rather, back to normal. "It's a series of documents obtained for us by an old friend of ours. Who got out well before the Crackdown but knows enough that we're not the terrorists the media claims us to be. Just read."

Kislewski skimmed through the documents, picking out key words and phrases. The ones that jumped out the most were 'high profile,' 'terrorist,' and 'public execution'. And there at the end, 'Moscow' and 'in one week'. The final page was almost entirely blank except for a brief memo in austere font.

Prisoner is psionically gifted. May have genetic modifications. Exercise extreme caution when transferring. Expect possible rescue attempt by terrorist forces. This man is their leader. They only refer to him as "The Commander". Make sure his death is an example to them.

Signed,

The name signed at the end of the memo was redacted. Kislewski's jaw dropped. Her heart leapt into her throat and she realized she was choking back tears. "He's alive? He's ALIVE! Bradford, we are going to jump hard. Every single soldier is going to volunteer. We'll take them all. We have to save him Bradford."

"Understood Colonel. Should I inform the troops?"

"Absolutely. I want them as psyched up as possible."

"Yes sir." Bradford moved to the PA system terminal, opened it, and began speaking. "XCOM personnel, I repeat all XCOM personnel, this is a priority one announcement. The Commander is currently a prisoner of Advent. We have discovered his location. We are going to rescue him. We are going to bring the Commander home! Bradford out." Bradford paused and cocked his head. "Do you hear that?" Kislewski did. It was the roar of cheering XCOM members echoing throughout the base, in exultation that they had a chance to save a still-living legend.

 _Author's Note: Realized after I got on the train today that this hadn't gone up. So here I sit in a Starbucks - I'll try to publish in the mornings from now on. Also considering moving to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule to keep things consistent for me. I'll let you guys know if that's going to happen in a couple of chapters. As always, thanks for reading, and get hype as we watch XCOM 2 at E3!_


	9. An Uncommon Voice

**XCOM Headquarters – 48 hours before execution**

Bradford stepped aside as a team of engineers rushed through the door he was trying to enter. The cart they pushed carried a massive tank of highly flammable flamethrower fuel. The yellow and orange labels alone made it abundantly clear the danger contained inside the pressurized container. Once they had passed, Bradford stepped into the workshop, catching the eye of Doctor Shen. Shen gestured to his office, and the two men stepped out of the screech of saws and popping of sparks to talk.

"How ready are we, doctor?"

"Bradford, we're still some time out on making sure that the MECs will still function properly. We might not be able to put as much weight on them as we did in the past. The elerium fuel cells we used in the last war have at least partially degraded."

"What type of reduction in payload are we talking? The Colonel won't stop pestering me about having the MECs available to rescue the Commander."

"Well Bradford, it looks like we only have enough unspoiled flamer ammo for one MEC, so we can remove those from the others. Honestly at this point it looks like we'll be able to cobble together enough proximity mines to put either one fully stocked launcher on one, or two partially filled ammo reserves on two different MECs. We'll really be relying on the railguns and fist modules, I think."

"Do we have anything for mechanized enemies? Any HEAT or Shredder Ammo left over? What if we have to go to _close range?_ "

"We have HEAT and Shredder. And they're relatively easy to make, so we have some of the engineers whipping up a batch. Take off in 44 hours, right?"

"For the first group, yes. Do your best to have everything ready. This is going to be the hardest mission we've ever had to do."

 **Commander's Conference Room**

Egos were clashing like flint and steel, setting alight the tinder of anger. No one had slept for more than two hours at a stretch since planning for the operation had begun. Kislewski sat, trying to pay attention as Cassandra Brockovitch, a former field medic reiterated her idea to land the Skyranger directly in the plaza and take the execution podium by force. The same rebuttals greeted her as a chorus of opposed voices brought up concerns about being shot down by air defense forces and limited amount of space on the Skyranger for a strike force.

When the room had returned to angry glares and poring over planning screens and pages of documents, a knock turned the heads of the assembled as one. Kislewski went to the door, opened it and was met by Shen, carrying an easel and rolled up piece of paper.

"Doctor Shen, good to see you. What do you have there?"

"A plan, Colonel." To his credit, Shen had never once stumbled by calling her Commander before correcting himself. His respect for the Commander was too immense to call anyone else by the title. "I think I figured out how to save him, and it involves combining some ideas that I've heard about already."

"How do you know what we're talking about here? Isn't this discussion closed and classified?"

"Just because I'm an engineer doesn't mean I can't help, Colonel. And you forget, that while the soldiers in this room are excellent in the field, I watched the Commander direct countless operations, and I have an idea now."

Taken aback at the resolve in his voice, Kislewski said, "Alright then, Doctor, please proceed. Everyone, listen up."

Shen moved to the front of the room, adjusted his easel, and clipped a pad of documents onto the stand. The first page was a breakdown of XCOM forces that were trained for offensive deployment: Four MECs, one Skyranger, and twenty experienced operatives. There were twenty rookies too, just beginning their combat training, but prepared to deploy on the front lines if necessary. Shen began his presentation, "You all know our current deployment numbers. But I think we can leverage our rookies more than this planning group realizes. They're not in any systems, not injected with any potentially compromised communications chips, and even though they're rookies, have the skills to become what you all did during the first war. I think we should use them as a critical point of the assault. The plan goes as follows."

He paused for a drink of water from a cup on the table in front of him, then turned the page. "Starting immediately, the rookies go to Moscow and set up an ambush around the site of the execution. As soon as the commander hits the platform, they go loud, and mow down as many guards as they can. This distraction will pull eyes to the center, which is when the Skyranger and Commander Bradford's old Soviet copter will fly in with the entire offensive force. They'll have to come in low and fast, and they should probably be closer to the city than we are now. But with the initial shock of the rookies followed up by our veteran troops, we should be able to snatch the Commander off of the platform and get him into one of the vehicles."

Cassandra Brockovitch was the first to interrupt. "And what happens after we get the Commander? Not everyone is going to be able to extract if the rookies go in early?"

Shen replied, "I know. That's the the problem. But I have an idea. You all are not going to like it. Here it is anyways. The rookies will board the transport ships, along with the commander and whoever else can fit. The remainder of the force will stay behind and fight a sacrificial rearguard defense to buy the Commander and the future of XCOM time to get clear."

Before Kislewski could say a word, the room erupted into shouting. Most of the invective was directed against the idea of a sacrificial defense by the veterans. Shen waited, his hands folded calmly, before proceeding.

"Now I know that idea is controversial, but we could try my other exit strategy, which is riskier but means that more people could get out alive." Shen quickly flipped a page. Pointing with an old fashioned wooded stick, he outlined his idea on a map of the city. "This plaza for the execution is close to a military base here. I'd be willing to be that they have transports equivalent to the Skyranger or even better. The extraction would then go as follows: The Skyranger and Russian helicopter boost away on autopilot at maximum speed, while the commander is escorted to the military base by our forces. We'd seize transports there. The pilots of the Skyranger and helicopter can fly them, because those craft are dead as soon as they flee. Then we make a short hop to outside of the city, then wait and move, either on foot or when we are sure no satellites are watching, by air, back to the Farm. This plan requires us to take a military base by force, but it's possible they'll be drawn down to provide cover for the execution. The upside is that everyone gets out alive if we do it right. Above all else, this plan does what the Commander would have wanted. Everyone can get out alive. We just have to be good enough."

The assembled soldiers fell silent. Kislewski felt a rush in her chest as her mind ran through the plan. She liked it. Quickly she polled the room. Miraculously, no one had major concerns. Immediately she felt butterflies in her stomach at the prospect of executing an operation again.


	10. A Plan

_Sorry to give you another email notification for just a few words, followers. This post is here to announce that I'm going to be moving to a Monday Wednesday Friday schedule starting immediately. When you compare, it's 6 chapters every two weeks instead of 7, which is significant but not drastically reduced amounts of content. This will let me structure my writing/publishing a little more consistently, which is going to be necessary in the months ahead. The remainder of the next chapter will go up here on Monday the 22nd._

 _Thank you for understanding._

 _As an author who never thought he'd get this many views, I can't express my appreciation enough. I'll work doubly hard to make this story worthy of your attention going forward._

 **Briefing Room, XCOM Headquarters – Two Hours Later**

"The rumor is that they've finally agreed on a plan upstairs." Kevin and Lily paused in the hallway as the combat ready troops of the base filed into the room.

"And? Is that all we know? Because it's getting too close to the deadline for my comfort," Kevin replied.

"Your comfort? You're a rookie! They couldn't give two shits about what you want. It's not they'll take us anyways when they have twenty of the original troopers here. They're psionic and genetically modified. Have you ever trained against them? They're spooky."

Kevin sighed. "I know, I know," he said, dejected. "I just wanted to save the commander. Like we've done all this training but what's the point if we're just going to be stuck-"

Lily's frantic gestures cut him off. He turned around and found he was blocking Colonel Kislewski and the command staff from entering the room. He quickly stepped aside and saluted, mildly chagrined.

She said "At ease" and proceeded immediately to the podium. Lily and Kevin quickly grabbed seats near the back in the middle of a row. Almost as soon as they had sat down, the lights dimmed and Kislewski began speaking.

"In approximately 46 hours the execution of the Commander of XCOM is scheduled to take place in the Crowne Plaza of Moscow, Russia. We have devised a plan to extract the him. The plan has several stages. The first stage begins immediately following this meeting. All twenty rookies, under the commands of brevet Lance Corporals Ricter and Desance will infiltrate into Moscow and find suitable positions from which to engage enemy forces in the plaza when the Commander is revealed. The remainder of our combat troops will deploy from the Skyranger and our surplus helicopter at high speed once the initial contact has been made by the advance team. Following that..."

Her words droned on as Kevin's gut dropped into his boots. He looked to his right. Lily's jaw was clenched and she refused to even glance at him. She stared straight ahead as Kislewski explained the rest of the plan. When the Colonel asked for questions, her arm shot up.

"Go ahead, Lance Corporal."

"Colonel, sir, what if the military base has insufficient transports for us? Who have priority on leaving?"

Kislewski looked down, and held the position for a few seconds. "Lance Corporal, in the event insufficient transport is available, our MEC troopers and some of the veterans have offered to hold the line. I'll let one of the group explain, but from what we've determined, we only need to acquire two flying transports to transport our whole team. The likelihood of that being impossible is extremely slim. Also, if Lieutenant Abeba could come up here, I'd like him to explain why his group is willing to make this sacrifice."

The light hum of cybernetics, accompanied by the clanking of metal feet analogues on the floor accompanied the lieutenant to the podium. Turning to face the audience, he cleared his throat and spoke. His voice was slightly flat and mechanical, a byproduct of the extensive cybernetic modifications made during the war.

"While we have enjoyed living on our own at the MEC Farm and helping train a future generation of XCOM, all of the MEC troopers have discussed among ourselves and generated several truths that hold for all of us. We will never reintegrate into society in the way that we hoped would be possible. Furthermore, the protracted isolation we have experienced has led us to believe that even our own comrades will never view us the same way again. The trials of the war forced them to cleave to us, but we have been as alien as the opponents we fought since we became more metal than flesh. We want to continue to help XCOM, but at the same time we are 'damaged goods' psychologically. Our efficiency as soldiers has been reduced because of this and we will gladly hold the line one last time."

The room went silent as the speech concluded. The silence was only broken several sniffles and signs of tears from some of the people present. Kevin's dread at being a squad leader was replaced by a deep resolve. The MECs were essentially asking to be given death with dignity on the front lines. It was only proper that he also face the challenge of leading a squad with courage rather than nerves.

Shortly thereafter, the briefing concluded and the rookies dispersed to their barracks. Kevin and Lucy put up the room divider between the two bunk rooms and talked with their squads about the plan. The chief concern was smuggling weapons in, but Central Officer Bradford had said in the briefing that two different safehouses, one for each squad, had been prepared with what seemed like an armory of guns by his Russian army contacts. Donning civilian clothing, the rookies filed onto the Skyranger. A brief flight later, and they filed off in a similar way, half a mile from the city outskirts, and dispersed into groups to make their way to the safe houses.


	11. The Burden of Command

**XCOM Headquarters, Commander's Office – 36 hours to execution**

Kislewski checked the numbers one more time. The transports they were hoping to steal were able to carry 25 people at once. They didn't mount weapons, but they did have a feature that Kislewski was counting on. Because all military forces were integrated worldwide under Advent computer systems, the old system of having Friend or Foe radio transponders had become increasingly restrictive on actions planes could take against one another. If the FoF beacon on the transports switched to "Medical responding," it would be difficult for Advent forces to even target the transports. And flipping the status code to "Carrying out covert operation" could potentially erase the transports from all tracking systems except visual ones. She made a mental note to have the pilots memorize the useful codes for the beacons when they returned from the flight simulators, which were using a publicly available flight simulator program to mimic the feel of the Advent ships.

With no knock to proceed him, Shen barged into the office. He put his hands on the small table, clearly distressed.

"I'm not a monster, am I Colonel?"

Kislewski was taken aback. "I don't think you are, Doctor."

"But those MECs. Those poor men and women. We made permanent changes that shouldn't have happened, made sacrifices to the war effort. Kislewski I _doomed_ those men and women as soon as I developed the possibility of MECs existing. And they signed up because they knew someone had to. It wasn't ethical. It wasn't right. It won us the war, but what did we lose? And they never told me. I never knew that what I had done created such harm."

There were tears in his eyes. Kislewski guided him to a chair, sat him down. "Doctor, you had to win the war. And no one could have anticipated that the MECs would feel so isolated even during the war."

"I could have though." Shen had moved to a flat tone, one that conveyed his emotional distress by not revealing any emotion. "I knew the changes had to be drastic and I made them. And now I'm responsible for what has happened to them." His voice grew progressively louder as he kept talking in rapid-fire sentences. "Kislewski, they would rather die than go on living! And you're willing to use that! You are falling into the same trap we did in the first war. You don't care that they're so distressed they'd rather die than survive longer, and you want to grant their wish. It's horrible!"

"Shen. Calm down. You're verging on insubordination."

"I don't care! My conscience has become too burdened with this to really bother with decorum."

"Stop." The single word, uttered by Kislewski, initiated a period of silence that lasted for ten seconds while Shen composed himself. "You didn't know, Doctor. And we have to use everything we have. Rescuing the Commander is just step one. People might die on this mission. People will certainly die if we have to fight Advent. We have to make difficult choices that kill or wound our people. The burden of command. And I need you fully ready to accept that burden and be in this fight with us."

Shen appeared to struggle with the words for a few seconds. He then turned to her, eyes steeled. "Alright Colonel. But if we both make it, we're going to have a long talk about this."

 **Safe House Alpha – 24 hours to execution**

Kevin paced as the squad readied the weapons. While Bradford's Russian friends had been unable to find any weapons bigger than ballistic assault rifles and several RPGs, he was confident that at the very least the ambush would draw fire and allow the second wave of soldiers to free the commander. One of his squad, a private named Ellen Merchamp, said, "You'll wear a hole in that rug if you pace anymore, Kev- Sir."

He turned to her. "Please don't sir me Merchamp. I didn't ask for this. What's your question though?"

"Once we start shooting, we'll probably be spotted by gunfire detection in the visors of the Advent troops. How are we going to spoof that?"

Kevin realized he didn't have a good answer to the question. He thought hard for a moment, then responded. "I don't know, Ellen."

"You realize that those things can spot and retarget weapons systems after just one or two shots, right? So if we shoot a burst, we immediately paint a nice big target on ourselves."

"I'm aware. But I really don't have any countermeasures for you. They've just got better tech than we do right now. We have surprise, though, so maybe we can burst some of them down before they form an organized response. That's our best chance to this."

"We didn't sign up for a suicide mission! How does the Colonel expect us to take on the most technologically advanced troops we've ever seen?"

"Our troops, the old ones, are pretty advanced themselves," Kevin retorted, becoming more flustered.

"Well, we're sure as hell not. No way I'm being used as cannon fodder. The plan can-"

Kevin interrupted, angrily, "You think I like this? I don't. I also get the privilege of commanding you to do things that might get you killed. The Commander is so important that the entirety of old XCOM is willing to risk their lives. That might tell you something. These are some of the most lethal soldiers in the world. They've killed hundreds of times, humans and aliens. They're genetically modified. And they're willing to put it all on the line for one person. That's how important this is. All of the veterans realized we're doomed without the Commander. And our job is to ambush the Advent troops so they can get in and do wet work on the rest. We're committed goddamnit! We have to do this! Fight or lose everything!"

He stopped, aware that the rest of the squad had drifted in to listen to him chew out Ellen. "Apologies, Private, that was probably over the top," he said. "But you have to understand that the Colonel wouldn't do this without good reason. We just have to justify her trust in us."

"I understand it," Ellen said sullenly. "I just don't have to like it." She, and the rest of the squad returned to prepping weapons and equipment for the raid.

 **Safe House Bravo – the same time**

Looking at the map, Lily quizzed the squad again on their positions for the assault on the plaza. "I'll be leading the base of fire to the wall bordering. Jacobs, where will you be?"

"Up in the hotel, firing from the window. Priority targets are officers."

"Good. And you Salazar?"

"I'll be providing rocket support from the hotel roof. Let's hope these RPGs work. But we've been over this one hundred times already, Lily. Can't we just sit and do gear checks? "

"No we can't. We have to do this perfectly. So much is counting on us. And you should be calling me sir, _private_ Salazar."

The man bristled. "Very well, _sir_." He injected the word with as much scorn as possible.

Lily deflated as she saw the rest of her squad's eyes. They were clearly with Salazar's line of thinking. She wanted to apologize, to say she was sorry and that leading was hard and she was extremely nervous, but said nothing. To apologize would destroy her authority. Grasping at straws, she conceded. "Okay. Go do gear checks. Make sure everything is spotless. Get ready. We jump off soon." As the troops dispersed, Lily worried. Would they even follow her if shit hit the fan? She didn't know and didn't want to think about the possibility.


	12. Setbacks

**Unknown location – 12 hours before execution**

"If you submit, we will free you. You will be able to return to your comrades."

"So you can crush them using me. Never."

"You would benefit greatly. Perhaps you could spare them the fate that is to come."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, perhaps one of them can explain it better to you."

The Commander heard footsteps click down the corridor. On a screen installed in the door, he saw the face of Vahlen looking in. "Commander?" Her peculiar lilt was unmistakable. "What have zey done to you? Are you alright?"

"Vahlen! What are you doing here? Are you a prisoner too?"

"No, I'm not a prisoner. I heard that they had arrested some of the old XCOM. They said I couldn't see you until now. I'm sure this will all blow over. And if you just answer their questions I think they could let you out."

"Vahlen. Listen to me. The Advent. They're working with the aliens. They never left. They're still among us. I've been psychically probed multiple times. You have to warn the others."

"You have obviously lapsed too far, Commander. Maybe they should transfer you to the psych ward though. You need help." She disappeared from the door and he heard the clicking of her feet recede down the hallway.

Immediately the voice was back. "Submit. Even you friends no longer believe you. You have no one left. Submit."

"I'll die first."

"Then die you will. But publicly. Loudly enough to bring them out of the woodwork, your comrades. In a spectacle that they'll think to disrupt. But we know that of course. And we'll be ready. You are the perfect bait to tempt the last possible resistance against us. So when the fighting starts, know we're ready. Waiting for them to commit enough to spring the trap." The voice cut off. The Commander sat, worrying about the rescue mission he knew Kislewski would surely be coordinating.

 **Outskirts of Moscow, Thirty minutes to Execution**

"Final checks completed Colonel. These bad boys will get us there at most four minutes after the signal is sent from the forward team. I think Dr. Shen's crew had a little too much fun with them." Max "Strike" Ratakashi signed off the radio with a click. Kislewski checked the other priorities she had on her list. Surprisingly, the boxes were checked. Everything was going about how she had expected.

The tension though, that she hadn't missed. The temporary camp practically crackled as the troops sat around waiting. The natural over-preparedness of the soldiers had left them with nothing to do but sit ready, in various positions around the camp. It was a classic case of what her drill instructors would have termed as "hurry up and wait," which had frustrated her to no end during training. There was so much potential for action, but there was no constructive outlet for it. The MEC troopers sat close to their combat frames, but hadn't harnessed up yet. The biological soldiers sat on boxes or the ground practically lounging. Van Doorn, his bald head gleaming slightly, polished a knife with repeated strokes of a whetstone. Kislewski turned away from it all, reviewing the plan in her head. It was perhaps one of the most fragile plans she had ever been a part of, excepting a few missions that had gotten completely out of control during the Invasion. The "ifs" were numerous and critical. _If_ the rookies could create enough of a distraction, _if_ the Commander was actually there and the whole plaza wasn't a trap, _if_ the team could extract successfully. The necessity of the actions that XCOM had to take did not blind her to the fact that this was a last-ditch move which wouldn't actually resolve the situation. The enemy was entrenched and the Commander would have to grind out another war against an even more omnipresent foe in order to succeed.

Footsteps from behind her caught her attention. Van Doorn was jogging over to her, radio in hand. He extended it to her. "We've got problems," he said grimly. She took the radio from him and asked, "Who is this?"

"This is brevet Corporal Lily Desance." Her voice sounded stressed, on the verge of panic.

 **Safe House Bravo – 30 minutes earlier**

Lily was pacing. The butterflies in her stomach felt like they had decided to have a dance party throughout the rest of her body, so she paced in the hopes that the movement would eject the dancers from the club. A few of her fellow rookies were restless too, but the vast majority stared at walls or at the ground, deep in contemplation. While she had accepted the Colonel's argument that sending any veteran soldiers with the rookies could have been identified by a scanner detecting genetic modifications, she was worried that the pre-battle fugue would impair their performance.

Her concentration on remembering the exact details of the plan, the firing positions and movement against the Advent forces already starting to fill the plaza below. A cordon had been established by the armored troopers, coordinated by officers with boxy communications devices on their backs. These things were manageable though – the rookies had enough armor piercing bullets that the Advent troopers would die quickly. More worrying were the armored trucks. Infrared scanners couldn't penetrate the walls of the trucks, so the team had had to plan for at least eight additional soldiers inside each of the trucks. The platform had been raised though, confirming at least some of the intelligence reports that there would be an execution. Lily kept her eyes intently trained on the square through the window as yet another officer hopped down from a truck and began tinkering with one of the speakers throughout the plaza. As a consequence of her intent focus through the window, she was blasted with glass shards as an Advent trooper kicked through the window and jumped in off of a rappel line, gun raised.

Lily collapsed, feeling hot blood running across her face. The world became a mixture of gunfire, shouts, and the telltale smell and heat of flashbang grenades. On her back she saw the door open to a portable ram, and more troopers come charging inside. The haze over her vision grew blurrier, but she saw three of her squad fall, almost certainly dead as Advent troops moved in.

The world snapped back into focus. She grabbed, loaded, and aimed a rifle at the back of the man who had kicked the window in. Fired. Hit. He fell. She turned, aimed at another window breacher, aimed, fired. His chestplate caved. On autopilot she dumped the rest of her magazine at the door. She moved reloaded, aimed. A quick double tap. More down. But the rookies were in disarray from the initial assault. Moving towards the door. She shouted, "Charge!" and bullrushed through. In the hallway stood several Advent troopers. No time to aim. She dumped the magazine into them and reloaded again. Everything was silent.

The silence persisted and Lily realized she had been deafened. As silence changed to ringing, she moved around the room, checking bodies and equipment. Jacobs was the most prominent among the fallen. She lay facedown, blood pooling under her. Lily heard vague noises and turned her head. Salazar, clutching his arm, was calling her name. He pulled out a notepad. Scribbling with a marker, he scribbled "Plan?" in messy letters. She grabbed her own notepad and wrote back, "Get out. Alleyway behind." She grabbed her gun and moved for the door. The rest of the uninjured squad members followed, swapping their guns for Advent rifles as they moved out. The last thing Lily saw before she closed the door was Jacobs, a reminder of her failure.

In an alleyway two blocks away, Lily's hearing had come back enough to call back to the Colonel at the camp. She had four healthy shooters, two more wounded, and a fraction of the arsenal that had been in the safe house.


	13. No Reservations

**Temporary Encampment, Outskirts of Moscow – Forty minutes to execution**

Kislewski closed the radio connection with "Kislewski out" and a twist of a dial. She walked back over to the assembled troops, and called for them to huddle up. Her veterans gathered into a loose circle. She began to address them, starting with what Lily had told her.

"A short while ago, one of the teams of rookies was attacked by Advent troopers. We don't know if they were police who had been tipped off as to the weapons in the apartment. Either way, this will have put them on higher alert for our attack. In addition, four rookies were killed, and another two wounded in the assault."

The veterans greeted this news with muttering and downcast gazes. Even though they hadn't known the rookies very well, there was still a sense of loss because comrades had fallen. Kislewski waited for the news to sink in and then continued.

"The Advent are almost certainly expecting something now, ladies and gentlemen. Any offensive moves we make on the plaza will be met with more force then we are expecting. Every single one of you volunteered for this crazy mission. It's your choice now if you decide to get off and go back to the base. I will not sanction anyone who just wants to bug out now and try to go undetected by the Advent. If you want to leave, either say it now or approach me separately after this briefing."

The troops were still silent, shifting from foot to foot and gazing at their feet. Cassandra Brockovitch stepped forward into the center of the circle, drawing surprised looks from many of the veterans. Silent while she mulled her words, she began to speak. "Colonel, I know I was doubtful of the plan at first. But I think I speak for all of us when I say that no one is backing down, even if it means our deaths. The Commander was there for us every step, every shot of the way last time. There's no way we can take down this new threat without his guidance. I say victory at all costs! It's our planet and we've got to defend it!"

As she concluded, several operators called, "Hear hear!" and the group as a whole seemed to give assent to Brockovitch's statement. Kislewski pondered for a moment, then replied. "Then let's do this. I'll tell Desance to do what she can to ambush the troops. We'll just have to stack troops in one of the two transports because she won't be able to weaken them as much as Ricter's squad. We have to hit them hard and fast. The more chaos the better. I will personally lead the group that will have to grab the commander from the podium. We can do this!"

Morale raised, the troops returned to their equipment. Even though the gear had been prepped dozens of times already, there was something comforting in checking every last moving part one more time.

Kislewski, her gear all sorted, got on the radio to inform the other rookie squad of the situation.

 **Safe House Alpha, 20 minutes to execution**

The radio buzzed, startling the rookies in the safe house. Kevin sprang for the receiver and picked it up. "This is Colonel Kislweski. Ricter, report."

"We're prepared, Colonel, just waiting for the Commander to actually arrive. Once he's in place, we'll hit them."

"Be advised Corporal, the other safe house was hit by Advent troopers. The squad there sustained sixty percent casualties, with four dead. Corporal Desance was unharmed. They might have an inkling that there are more of us, but we're still going. Just be ready for the other squad's presence to be a little less than you had planned."

Kevin sat in silence momentarily as he processed what the colonel had said. Lily was alive, but four other faces that he had known were gone forever. After what seemed like an eternity, he responded. "Understood Colonel. We'll give them hell."

"Very good. See you in a few minutes Corporal. Kislewski out."

The radio clicked off and Kevin placed it aside. His squadmate, Ivan Markov, asked him, "What did the Colonel say?"

"The other squad got attacked by Advent. We don't think they know we're here though. Anyways, they took some casualties and lost most of their stuff. They're still going to show up to the fight, but they're not going to be able to get as loud as us."

"Understood Corporal. Did the Colonel say who had been killed?"

"No. Sorry Ivan, I guess we'll have to find out after the operation."

"Okay, Kevin. We can do this."

"You bet we can. Is everything ready?"

"Of course! Officer Bradford's friends were very generous."

The two of them settled down by the window to wait, watching the plaza. Everything was ready. The only thing necessary was the guest of honor. As Kevin considered his every shot, every move, he noticed a disturbance in the corner of the plaza. A convoy was approaching. As it pulled in, Kevin knew that it was the real deal. Two armored trucks guarded a third, which looked like the great-granddaddy of all armored trucks ever built. Troopers moved to the back of the truck and pulled a figure out. It was a man, his head covered in a bag. Kevin put a scope to his eye, which sent out a massive burst of scanning laser at the man. The readout reported back with the general shape of his face. The scope matched the face against a picture of the Commander. The readout blinked "95% match" in glowing red. "That's him. Ivan, radio the others now. We'll hit when they're three minutes out."


	14. Engagement

**On the Podium**

The Commander couldn't see a thing. He could hear though, a crowd waiting for a speech, the gaps in the wall of sound that indicated the guards standing between them and the podium. There would of course be supporters of the Advent strategically placed within the crowd, to cheer and boo when the speech demanded it. There would even be some regret in the speaker's voice when it came time to execute him, that such a powerful enemy could not be turned. Lies and shams all of it. At least XCOM knew. At least someone would carry on the knowledge that the aliens were the ones in control of the whole mess. And so he waited for the speech to begin, in the dark.

Captain James Marcus stood to the right of the prisoner, the so-called "Commander" of the terrorists calling themselves XCOM. He didn't intimidate Marcus, but then again, few of the prisoners Marcus had guarded had. They had to be really off their rocker to get in his head. It was just like the horror movies he had watched as a kid. The monsters weren't scary, but the creepy houses with their movement on the edge of vision and little atmospheric details were terrifying. This prisoner was neither of those things. He selected his radio on his heads-up-display. "Squads, report. Ninety seconds to the speech. Alpha leader here, platform is secure."

"Bravo, down here on the crowd, ready to go."

"Charlie, sitting in the back of the trucks, we're ready"

"Delta, on the road, ready."

Then silence.

"Echo?" Marcus asked?

"Sir, this is Echo, we've been notified of a problem. Apparently some troops from the local garrison assaulted a hotel room, found a ton weapons and soldiers and were killed by them.

"WHAT?!" Marcus exploded on the communications channel. "They didn't tell us about a raid they did relevant to this huge fucking event that the brass had planned? Why the fuck not?"

"Apparently their opsec prevented them from doing so. It just went far enough up the chain that someone cut the red tape."

"Get into that building, Echo, control that room and watch the plaza from there."

"Understood, but it's going to take some time. It's being treated as a crime scene."

"Shit. Alright, everyone stay on watch. Echo, just push pa-"

"The dignitaries are arriving. Look sharp."

"Damnit Delta! We need time. This area is unsecured."

"Sir, we can't delay. The faster the better. Besides, the terrorists apparently dispersed or were killed or something. We're trying to sort it out now."

"Echo, get in there and you're the ace in the hole. This speech and execution will be quick."

The cars pulled into the plaza to the wild adulation of the crowd. The higher-ups really wanted to make a show, it seemed. The man stepping out of the car was Francis Jimenez, one of the most influential politicians in forming the Advent coalition. His neck discolored on the side with patchy spots from a birth defect and small glasses covering his eyes, he made his way to the podium. He adjusted the microphone, grabbed the sides of the podium, and began to speak. Immediately Marcus was swinging his view to the windows of the buildings around the plaza. He also scanned the crowd, looking for disturbance. Echo, if he was lucky, had gotten to the room where the operation had occurred. He heard a whirring in the distance of a helicopter. Isolating the noise, he sent an IFF query to the satellites that watched the air traffic over Moscow.

The signal bounced to a satellite relay in Moscow, went up, hit the satellite, which sent back what the helicopter was broadcasting. There was also a note appended that the helicopter's registration was forged and it was being accompanied by an unfamiliar design of transport plane. That information was sent back down to the relay station, and sent back to Marcus' visor, where it appeared as a flashing icon. It took only 1.2 seconds. It took another tenth of a second to open the information, a second tenth to read it, and before the processing could occur in the third tenth, an explosion carried the trucks with Charlie squad high into the air with a thunderous boom.

The crowd scattered. Francis Jimenez collapsed to the ground, clutching his neck and shrieking. A hazard light flashed as Marcus threw himself to the ground, warning of harmful chemical exposure. His visor finally started tagging targets with guns though, and he began to return fire.

 **From a window**

As the trucks exploded, Kevin took a shot at Jimenez with his sniper rifle. It hit, but didn't kill. Kevin angrily reloaded and picked a new target. The Advent trooper in the midst of the civilians, still looking for targets, went down, missing parts of his head. Return fire sprayed the area around the window and Kevin ducked back.

 **Across the plaza**

Lily and her troops charged from an alley, firing a protracted barrage that took down two troopers as civilians dropped to the deck, either dead or evading fire. While she regretted shooting near innocents, the mission had to come first. She ordered her troops with hand motions further towards the podium. Salazar pulled the only rocket launcher the team had back and used it, blasting another truck high into the air. Suddenly Salazar went down. The squad took cover. One rushed to the fallen soldier, but he had been killed instantly. She looked up, and from the position the squad would have taken, Advent troopers distributed fire across the plaza. Where were the veterans? The rookies were getting cut apart. She heard a shout and saw another one of her squad went down, dead. A fist of four troops advanced across the plaza towards her lightly covered position. Shouting and with hand signals, she managed to communicate enough to get across a barrage plan. The alive rookies grabbed their grenades and chucked them towards the fist. Three were close enough to do damage, and soldiers crumpled in a heap. Lily ran forward and scavenged one of their rifles and ammo from the body. Tentatively, she put a few rounds towards the windows in the room where the squad had been assaulted. The gun bucked hard, but it seemed lethal enough.

With her new gun, she ducked behind a car and yelled to the alive members of the squad. "Alright! We need to actually get to the podium! We can use it as cover against the ones upstairs! Ready?" Nods all around indicated assent. "CHARGE!"

 **Above**

Kislewski watched as Desance and her rookies charged across the plaza. "Land land land!" she shouted. "We have to cover them!"

As she watched, one of the rookies was hit from the windows. He didn't die instantly, but the leg wound dropped him and a second barrage finished him off. The others pressed forward as the helicopter moved in and strafed the building, loosing rockets and thousands of rounds from its ancient rotary cannons. Pulling around the helicopter landed in the center of the plaza and the whole contingent disembarked. As the pilot managed to get out, a shell zipped across the plaza and hit a building on the far side. The tank that had fired it moved in closer, winding up another shot. Kislewski grabbed cover by laying down behind a concrete bench. She grabbed her radio, "Big Sky, deploy. Get that tank off of us." The words that came back were far too garbled, but she heard the whine of the engines intensify.

A scuffling alerted her to Desance and her diminished squad as they also ducked below the depression angle of the tank and took cover. "Good to see you Corporal!"

"Thank you Colonel. Any thoughts about how we're getting the Commander?"

"Once the second contingent deploys, we should be clear."

"Understood."


	15. Leaving

**Kevin**

Kevin ducked back as another barrage from the troops in the plaza ripped through the window he was shooting from. He yelled to the squad over the radio, "Ground level, go! Make sure you finish them off if they go down!"

He watched as several troopers crumpled under fire coming from the team on the ground level. He shifted his sniper rifle to aim at the podium. Breathing slowly, Kevin squeezed the trigger and watched as a trooper went down, hit in the head. XCOM hadn't fully secured the plaza yet, and the battle was taking longer than the plan had called for. He watched in horror as the tank at one end of the plaza barely missed Lily and some rookies running for cover. Then the Skyranger's keening shriek filled their entire plaza. Several massive MECs jumped from the craft before it landed. One charged the tank, which couldn't swing its cannon fast enough to track it. The massive powered Kinetic Strike Module fired up and swung into the side of the armored vehicle. It flew through the air, spinning several times, before crashing upside down. An escape hatch opened, but as the crew tried to scramble out, they were picked off by the soldiers making it down from the Skyranger. Kevin watched with slight awe as the XCOM veterans went to work. The survivors of the helicopter run on Lily's old building were picked off by precise shots and the soldiers seemed capable of running at inhuman speed and reacting to Advent troops faster than he thought possible. One or two went down, wounded or dead, but the vast majority were unharmed as the rest of the Advent were mopped up in the plaza. Gathering his gear, he prepared to go down and link up with them.

 **At the podium**

Kislewski climbed the steps to where the Commander lay prone, hiding under an Advent body for protection. As she climbed, she heard him say, "Kislewski? Excellent. At least three of them escaped this, but they would have known from all the noise anyways. Including one of their captains. I heard him almost put the dots together with his squads, but then you all hit. What's the plan now?"

"Sir! It's good to see you again." Kislewski cut the bindings on his hands and pulled the bag off his head. "We have a plan to extract using the enemy's own transports at the military base nearby."

"Sounds good to me, Kislewski. You're in charge for this one. I'm not familiar with the plan or your capabilities, so lead on!"

"Yes sir!" She switched to her radio. "All forces. Group at the podium. We're fighting our way through to extract. Leave no one."

The troops coalesced themselves into a loose formation as it moved towards the plaza exit. Kislewski noticed that the MECs were helping to carry the bodies of the rookies that had fallen. A gesture towards the new recruits, that blood shared in a spilled cause pulled everyone together, regardless of who they were.

While the rag tag group moved fast, Kislewski knew that the base would be a tough nut to crack. The Advent troops pulling security were not the only ones in the city. The garrison was supposed to be rather large, but as the base came in sight, barbed wire fences standing stark against the city around, there seemed to be little resistance. Until a rocket issued from one of the towers, streaking towards the front group of loosely formed up rookies.

Kevin jumped for cover as the rocket tore in at him and his squad. Ducking and covering his head, he waited for the blast. There was a sudden explosion and he flinched hard. He only felt a rush of hot air, no shrapnel or devastating shockwave. He watched as the MECs engaged two more rockets, shooting them down with similar results. Then the armored troopers charged the guard towers and fences, literally crashing through them with ease. As one guard tower began to teeter, the troops on it jumped off, into the gunfire of the now scattered foot soldiers. Then more troops rushed from the base into a trench that was only bridged by one road. The base occupied the far side of a T-intersection, which meant that any frontal assault would have to come over open ground. Crawling under bullets, he reached Lily and the remnants of her team.

"What's the plan here?" He was practically shouting as a tremendous volume of fire was exchanged. The XCOM troopers had taken to the buildings around the T-intersection, but were still having trouble hitting the literally entrenched Advent soldiers.

"If we can get into the alley of this block, we can maybe get a flank on their front trenchline! Hopefully they won't be able to hit us as we cross the road!"

Kevin nodded. "We'll need a MEC to bust down the fence so we can get grenades in."

"Already ahead of you, Kevin." A MEC trooper lumbered over. Lily shouted into the part of the suit where the trooper's head would be. A mechanical "affirmative" emitted from speakers mounted to the outside of the MEC. The ground floor of the building adjacent to the street shattered as the MEC charged into the façade, smashing through into the atrium. The MEC didn't slow down either, increasing speed into the café counter and wall behind it. After the dust settled Kevin saw the light in the alley beyond. They sprinted through and turned right when they hit the alley, until they were at the corner of the building. "Okay, we'll need to cross here," Kevin said. We have to get across the street, and when the fence goes down, grenade the hell out of those scum. Ready? Everyone get a grenade out." The other rookies did, grim faced. If the soldiers in the trench saw them, it wasn't likely they'd escape alive, or even unscathed. But they had to do it. Kevin shouted, "GO GO GO!" and the group burst into the street.

The MEC led the way. By the time the front facing trench had noticed the assault closing on the corner of their fence line, it was far too late. The pole holding the fence up went down with a crash as small rounds pinged off of the MEC. The rookies followed, throwing their ordnance at a run. Kevin threw two of his four grenades in the space of a few seconds, blasting Advent out of the trench. There was a shout as the veterans saw the front line shatter and they charged as well. A muffled groan and slight clank from his right, over the cacophony of the battle drew his attention. He looked and saw Richard Zhu drop, shot in the throat and chest. The grenade he held fell from his hand and the spoon fell away. Kevin yelled as loudly as he could "GET DOWN! GET DOWN NOW!" before throwing himself into the trench. As he mentally counted down the seconds, a shadow passed over his head, and the explosion knocked him to the ground, hard.

 _Author's note: Sorry this is a day late, I left the house at approximately 10 AM and didn't return until 1 AM at night. Hope you enjoy and sorry for the delay!_


	16. The Strength of the Old Guard

After his ears stopped ringing, Kevin popped his head up out of the trench. What he saw horrified him. The MEC that had taken down the corner post of the fence had laid down on the grenade after jumping back across the trench. Metal was scattered everywhere. Mixed with the oil was blood, seemingly too much for the robotic appearing troopers. The two other MECs approached, and bent near the body. Entranced, he watched as they removed something that was slotted into a compartment on the other MEC's frame. The sound of a magnetic gun firing on auto sent him diving into the trench again. A squad of Advent troopers charged, one hanging behind and readying a rocket. Suddenly a barrage of deeper guns bellowed. The veteran snipers would not have their comrades taken by such an ambush. One by one the five soldiers went down. The last one, bringing the rocket up to fire, was hit by shots in succession such that he turned one way, then another, then fell like a drunken dancer. The troops kept moving, kept charging forward for the landing pads. Behind him, Kevin heard a _whumpf_ and turned back to see fire consume the fallen MEC, burning with a white hot intensity as the components turned to slag.

Kevin, running with his gun up, scanning for threats, came within sight of the guard house that sat aside the road. The wall that adjoined it looked to be solid concrete with steel reinforcement, and the gates were tightly shut. He took cover behind a roadside concrete pillar as one of the windows lit up with successive flashes, punctuated by the noise of a heavy machine gun. A squad of veterans charged forward, staying close together and off to the left. They grabbed cover behind an outbuilding, and as they grouped up, Kevin saw one of them pull a grenade. To his surprise, the man threw it directly down. Kevin nearly shouted out when he saw it about to blow. Then the whole squad disappeared. And not in the explosive fashion that Kevin expected. There was flicker as something moved. Then one of the windows of the guardhouse shattered _in_ and Kevin heard blasts from shotguns coming from inside. Over the radio, he heard Kislewski call, "Move up! The air field is just beyond the guardhouse!"

Lily had also watched the squad of veterans disappear and gasped as she jumped through the shattered window. The bodies of the guards had been hit at close range by some of the upgraded close range weapons that XCOM had left over. Designed to take on alien armors and alloys, the massive guns had blown through the bodies of some of the guards. The assorted matter was strewn across the room and she had to look away to keep herself from feeling ill. Then she and the team were through to the back door.

While they stacked up, at the door, one of the veterans, a woman with eyes whose pupils weren't quite right peered through a window scope, sighting ranges. "Alright rooks, here's the deal. It's 153 meters to the nearest two transports. You lot need to focus on taking down the maintenance and other crew. We'll be with you, but remember, don't hit the aircraft. Once we get to the hangar, sweep it and then hold while the pilots back out."

"Yes sir." Lily looked at her team. "Did you all hear that?" She received nods in return. Another run, another sprint, another chance that they'd be gunned down and have done it all for naught. She banished the thoughts and gripped her gun more tightly. The veteran turned from the window. Lily saw her name patch said "Oakley" with a crosshair next to it. She moved to the door and counted down, "Three…two…one…GO GO GO!"

The rookies, followed by the veterans, burst through the door, running hard. Behind her, Lily heard footsteps, then faltered briefly as the noise of the MECs crashing through the back wall of the guardhouse reached her. Then she was in the open, running as hard as she could. The veterans though…were moving unlike anything she'd ever seen. They were just faster than everyone else in the squad. Oakley, holding a rifle that was somewhere between sniper and assault rifle, was the second fastest, only behind a scout, who's compact gun and cut off armor around the arms gave him the mobility required. Suddenly a maintenance technician armed with a gun popped out from the hangar door. He began firing on full auto, the rounds peppered with tracers. Lily kept running, desperately hoping not to get hit. The scout drew most of the fire though, ahead of the group. It looked like he was reacting to the bullets and actually dodging them, the tracers failing to find him. A grunt next to her slowed her down as Hamato was hit and fell hard, leaving a blood streak on the concrete of the airfield. She stopped and rushed back to him. He had been hit in the leg, but it didn't seem like the artery had been hit. She moved to pick him up, but the loud noises of a MEC stopped her. The armored trooper towered over her like a tree. The massive hand reached down and picked up Hamato, putting him onto the back of the trooper. Then the voice came from the suit, "Climb on. Faster and you will be able to treat him. We need to stay in control of the situation." Lily scrambled up the MEC's exoskeleton, settling on top between the shoulders, holding Hamato in place. As she tried to bandage the wound, the MEC took off running. The position was surprisingly stable, as the MECs had to be able to shoot on the run, so their upper torsos had excellent stabilizers. She turned her head left and saw Kislewski and the Commander, riding on the other MEC, having a shouted conversation.

She turned to look to the right, and saw a squad of Advent soldiers come out of another hangar. They were running towards the pack of XCOM troopers too. She brought her gun up, sighted on the chest of the soldier, and fired a burst. Not pausing to look further at that target, she emptied her magazine towards the group and reloaded. Looking back at the group, she saw that two of the five troops were down, one was stopping to help, and the other two kept coming. Then she felt the MEC's torso shift as it turned towards the soldiers. "Hold on. Slight deviation of course expected."

Then the MEC was sprinting off from the group at an angle. It came to a stop, hard, and fired the massive railgun it carried. The recipient of the shot disappeared as the energy from the round turned him into red mist. The second trooper bent a knee to fire, but Lily overcame her shock and managed to put half a dozen rounds into him before he could get off anything too damaging. The MEC vocalized, "Thank you for the assistance Corporal. Returning to original destination pathfinding." In a matter of seconds. Lily was dismounting the MEC and had handed off Hamato to a veteran medic. Trained as a field surgeon, Bradley began operating on Hamato's leg as the jet engines whined. After the pilots had backed the transports out, Bradley moved Hamato into the cavernous dropship bay and continued to work. Unopposed by further enemies on the runway, the pilot called back over the intercom, "This is Big Sky. All forces onboard, and mission complete. Returning with the Commander now." The pair of aircraft taxied an acceptable distance away from each other, then lifted vertically and set a heading for the Farm.

 _ **Author's note:** The master document on my computer is at 17,500 words. I never expected this story to go this long. There's still some great content to go though! Enjoy!_


	17. Motivation and Shock

The troop compartment was surprisingly quiet. Lily sat curled in on herself on a bench. It reminded her of when she had tried to fit into her sister's suitcase as a kid. She pulled herself tighter as she rewatched the events from the plaza play out in her head. Her team, first in the police raid, then in the plaza and the assault on the base. She saw every wound in her head. She saw the dead too. Sprawled on the floor of apartment, dead in the plaza, and the base and the tarmac. Her failures struck her hard. She had failed to keep her squad intact, from beginning to end. Pressing her head into her knees, she bit her lip to keep herself from crying. A movement next to her made her feel ridiculously self-conscious that someone was watching her in her current state. She looked up and saw the Commander. Snapping out of her curled position, she slammed her feet on the floor and sat up straighter. "Sir!"

"At ease. Corporal, can I assume you're upset about the casualties you took today?"

"Yes sir…I didn't think it would be like this. I don't know why they died and I made it out."

"Corporal, you lost five out of ten? With the remainder wounded?"

"Something like that."

"In the early days of the war, we lost dozens of troops like you. Fighting against a force with better technology and supplies is so hard. Our rookies ground for weeks as we threw squad after squad into the aliens. The ones who weren't killed outright came back out for weeks in the medical bay, burned by plasma or poisoned by Thin Men. We lost so many that the soldiers started packing up their bunks before they left on missions so that their buddies wouldn't have to when they got killed. So many people have sacrificed for this cause. You knew coming in that this wouldn't be a bloodless endeavor. I thought that too, and then three of my men died in Germany when we hit first contact."

"I know this wasn't supposed to be bloodless, but sir, we were the tip of the spear on everything. We had to storm the plaza, we had to rush the wire fences at the base. The veterans were there, but they sure as hell weren't up front for most of it."

The Commander's demeanor changed suddenly and Lily knew she had gone too far. "You know why that's the case Corporal?" His voice was growing colder, steelier. This was the Commander who had commanded hundreds, if not thousands of missions against the aliens. This was man that had nearly singlehandedly put the responsibility for running the defense of an entire planet on his shoulders. "You were up front because that was the most efficient use for you and your squad. You don't carry as great of a threat profile to anyone like a veteran would. Getting you in place early was the perfect way to use this. Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices. In this case, we retained the greater strength of our force for things like assaulting the gatehouse at the base. You are a valuable soldier, Lily, but not so valuable that you won't be put in dangerous situations that you could potentially get killed to further the mission. We ended the first war with a play like that, you know. Michaels blew himself and that damned ship up. Your team took losses. But the next time more of you will know what you're doing and you won't. And eventually you'll get to the point where you won't lose people anymore, and when you do, it'll be a notable event. That's what happened with us too. Our armor got better, our guns got more lethal, and casualties dropped. But this is a new war. We have to get to that threshold first. And you're going to be one of the key pieces in getting us there."

The Commander stood up and walked towards the cockpit. Lily watched him go. She kept thinking about her team. But his words sank into her, and she didn't curl back up.

The Commander entered the cockpit and made eye contact with Kislewski. She acknowledged him with a nod. He spoke, "What's your read on that Corporal who led one of the rookie teams? She seemed pretty beaten up about losing her them."

"She reminds me of myself after the third operation I was on back in the first war."

He paused, thinking. "Oh…Tortured Doorway. You guys didn't expect those Thin Men. That's fair. I might have been too harsh on her then."

"She'll recover. She has to, given that she's one of our best candidates to lead squads comprised of new troops."

"Fair enough. Have we contacted the farm?"

Kislewski turned to the pilot. "Have we established contact?"

"We haven't yet." The radio setup is there. We're about 20 minutes out." He moved one hand from the flight stick and pointed.

Kislewski replied, "I'll radio them."

She grabbed the microphone and tuned to the base frequency. Keying the talk key, she tried to raise Bradford. "This is Kislewski. Bradford, status of the Farm?"

The radio hissed static back. Then a voice came through. "Colonel! Is the Commander with you?"

The Commander grabbed the microphone. "Here and unharmed Bradford! Hell of an operation you pulled off."

"Thank you Commander. We have-" Bradford was cut off by a boom and the shrieking of sirens. "Commander! We have multiple craft landing around the perimeter of the Farm! We're under attack! Get back as fast as you can! I'll try to hold them!"

Kislewski shouted to the pilot, "Get us back there! Find an LZ! We have to save them!" She grabbed the radio. "Ranger 2, return to the Farm ASAP! I'll be briefing the troops on the fly!"

On the second Skyranger, Kevin felt the speed of travel drastically increase. Before he could make his way forward to ask about it, the Colonel's voice came over the radio. "The Farm is under attack by the Advent. We're going to be landing and trying to shoot our way in. We'll save what we can and then leave. Prepare for deployment."

Kevin immediately stood up, checking his ammo and gear. The rest of the compartment had heard what he had and was doing the same. A veteran wandered over to him, passed him two magazines. "These are for you. You shot more than the rest of us." Handing them over, he walked away. The planes' engines screamed as the pilots redlined them at the maximum safe speeds. Checking one more time, Kevin waited to start the descent.

 ** _Author's Note_** _: You thought this was over? Mwahahahaha. It actually is much closer to over than being started. I would say that Chapter 20 is the upper limit on how far this goes based on what I still have to write. As always, thanks for joining me. I'll kee writing XCOM Fanfiction for some time I think. This has been awesome._


	18. New Foes

_Surprise! Bet you didn't expect this at midnight! I have to do early work things tomorrow, so it's up now. Enjoy as always. See bottom for longer note_

The ramps of the transports went down before the planes had even landed. Kevin watched, slightly awestruck as the veterans jumped from 20 feet up and landed with no discernable difficulty. The MECs also jumped out, leaving deep impressions in the soil when they landed. The transports touched down and the Commander, Kislewski and the rookies debarked in a more normal fashion. They had set down in a forest clearing not far from a hidden entrance to the base. Kislewski's briefing had described it as an escape of last resort, known only to her and Bradford. The tunnel would be the route of exit for the team once they had extracted Shen and Bradford successfully.

As the veterans moved down into the tunnel, Kevin turned away, a bit put out. Kislewski had ordered the rookies and the MEC's, who couldn't fit into the tunnel, to stay behind and make sure that the extraction was secure. The pilots and the Commander were the last ones into the tunnel, but stopped just after making it down the ladder. It was the most heavily secured place that XCOM still had positive control over, and the pilots were too valuable to place in harm's way in combat. The same went without saying for the Commander. Kevin moved to a small hillock and began digging in with an entrenching tool that he had nabbed from one of the combat engineers before the veteran had entered the tunnel. "This won't work on the concrete," the man had said, before moving dropping down the ladder. Kevin scooped out large shovelfuls of dirt and created a nice little mound that would serve as decent cover. He then walked over to Lily and handed her the tool, which she put to use in creating a similar position. All the while the MECs kept scanning the edges of the clearing and the sky above to make sure that no enemies were incoming.

 **In the Farm**

As the party approached the Situation Room, Kislewski smelled smoke. But she also caught the hint of something she hadn't smelled since the first war. Plasma, and a lot of it, had been fired. That gave her pause and she stopped the veterans. The group stopped as she addressed them over radio. "We're picking up a lot of evidence of plasma discharge. Unless the ADVENT upgraded their troops, it's likely that there are aliens present. We need to be extremely careful. It's been a while since we fought these guys." Nods of assent came from the team and they began moving again, stopping at the end of the hallway to stack up on the door into the Situation Room. Then an assault rushed forward, kicked the door hard, and charged in. Plasma fire nearly took his head off, but he managed to duck and get into cover. The rest of the squad charged too, firing covering shots to deter the enemy. A rocketeer next to Kislewski was cut nearly in half by a scything plasma barrage that told her Mutons or their Elite overclass were somewhere in the smoke and haze. Behind her, she heard a door open and turned quickly readying her gun. Bradford popped out and fired his standard service pistol through the open doors of the situation room.

"Bradford!" she exclaimed "You're alright!"

Grim and bleeding from some minor facial cuts, Bradford turned to look at her. "Thank the base defense forces. They died, but they bloodied the hell out the aliens. Some guy threw grenades at an intersection for seven minutes straight before they finally managed to hit him. They were about to overrun here, but then you guys showed up. Do we have extract ready?"

"There's a guard on the transports. They're outside the panic entrance. We should be good to go."

"Good work Kislewski. We should move if they don't come back in 30 seconds."

"Agreed." She clicked her radio. "Unless we take contact, in 30 seconds we are extracting back to the transports. Understood?" A barrage of one-click affirmative responses acknowledged the message. She kept her gun raised, pointed at the door. Then one of the scouts yelled, "They're above us!" Kislewski heard a horrid screeching as the ceiling opened up and Chrysalids dropped in from above, falling into the midst of the formation. At the same time, the doors exploded inwards, and something slithered into the room. It was _fast_. A tongue shot out and pulled a sniper into the shadows. Kislewski caught a glimpse of a giant snake sinking its teeth into her soldier. She ducked again as plasma cut the space she had previously occupied. A Chrysalid nearly pinned her to the floor but she rolled. A huge blast sent it flying across the room. Van Doorn fired again, blowing a Thin Man up at the door. Other Chrysalids had had more success though, either killing troops outright or forcing them out of cover. As she watched, the last one was dealt with by a reflex cannon blast, but then that assault was grabbed by another snake tongue and mercilessly dealt with. More fire cut down the snake however, and a minor lull ensued.

Kislewski clicked her microphone on. "Who's still alive? Who can move?" Turning it off, she turned to Bradford. "Where's Shen?"

He looked distressed. "He didn't make it. He yelled something about redemption for his sins and then took a grenade right to a Berserker. Blew them both to pieces. I don't think he intended to survive this one."

The news staggered Kislewski, but she realized she had only heard a few clicks from her soldiers. Of the group that had charged in with her, there were only five left alive. It was the greatest loss of skill and experience she could remember in the history of the organization. Van Doorn was still up, which was a positive. She turned back to Bradford. "Get out of here. The Commander is waiting for you. We'll cover the retreat. I'm still in command of you Bradford, and that's an order."

Bradford stood still for a moment, then saluted and dashed out the door to the exit. From the hallway, Kislewski could hear more aliens coming. She readied her weapons and grabbed a position to shoot from. The other veterans did the same. As Bradford's footsteps retreated down the tunnel, she focused in, preparing one last stand against the foe.

 **Tunnel Entrance**

Kevin heard footsteps and yelling from the tunnel. He moved quickly, peering down the ladder at the Commander and the pilots. Suddenly Bradford appeared, out of breath, carrying a pistol. Between his gasps, Kevin parsed, "Many" "Dead" "Leave" "-st stand" and worryingly, "sacrifice". A sudden noise turned his head. Something large, humanoid, popped out of the edge of the clearing and cut loose a plasma shot at one of the rookies. Unprepared to dodge, the soldier was hit and killed instantly. Kevin dashed back to his cover, yelling "Contact contact!" Then he saw two, no three similar forms emerge from the trees and began firing in earnest.

 _ **Author's Note**_ **:** _It's looking more and more like the next chapter could be our last. It'll be a bit long if it is, but I have the whole weekend to write it. I'd like to thank you all for joining me on this crazy adventure through the world of XCOM. I'll do a longer retrospective when it's all over. See you Monday for what could be our final installment in XCOM: Between the Wars._


	19. An Unscheduled Interlude

**Author's Note:** I know this is supposed to the the last chapter arriving in your inbox, but unfortunately it's not ready yet. To update you all, I have been struggling with concluding the story in a way that satisfies me and I think will satisfy you. In addition, I did not devote enough time to trying to figure that out this weekend, and in that, I am solely to blame. Thank you for your patience while I collect my thoughts on how it all ends. I think that when the update comes, by **Wednesday, July 15th** at the latest, I'll delete this chapter and make a new one so you all get notified. Again, thanks in advance for understanding. The ending will be as awesome as I can make it.

Update 7/15: I spent the entirety of last night trying to fix my primary writing computer, which is _reall_ _y_ on its last legs. Fortunately I was successful. This week is extremely busy, but I think can have it done by the end of the week, I'm really trying. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting even longer. Best, smelt.


	20. Finale

**The Farm**

The scanner in the doorway revealed the Seeker wave before the invisible cyborg squids could get in close to strangle the team. A massive volley from the squad evaporated them before they got close. The last one spiraled out of control into the wall as a burst of plasma destroyed the drive and stabilizers in its tentacles. Kislewski immediately reloaded, and heard three other soldiers do the same. James Winston, a scout, had been killed by a Thin Man on the previous wave. Van Doorn had gotten to his body and tossed the scanner when they heard the whispering of Seeker drives. The situation room was utterly holed by plasma fire. The back wall resembled Swiss cheese which had had additional holes poked in it. Everyone was at least slightly wounded. Kislewski herself had a nasty gash on her face and a plasma burn on her left calf.

The screech of Chrysalids warned her of another wave. The footsteps following the skittering insectoids were certainly not Chrysalids though. Plasma fire began suppressing the XCOM troopers as the pack swarmed in, hungry for blood. At close range, Van Doorn smashed one in the head with his plasma cannon and then blew a second to pieces with a single shot to the thorax. Plasma fire crashed into his armor and he staggered, but he didn't seem to be too badly wounded. Kislewski focused on taking down the 'lids in front of her, completely decapitating one before slapping more ammo into the plasma rifle. An explosion from the left rocked her from her feet and as she got up she saw the Chrysalids kill the other two soldiers who had survived thus far. One, a rocketeer whose signature weapon had long spent all of its shots fell when a claw rammed straight through her armor into her gut and a second pierced her collar from above. The second, an engineer, managed to drop one grenade at his feet and throw the second at the rocketeer. Kislewski ducked again as they both went off. The result, she saw, returning to her feet, was that the bodies of the soldiers were obliterated, as were the Chrysalids. There would be no rising from the grave for those two. Kislewski listened to the hallway, but everything had gone deathly silent. Her gun balanced on a console, she trained it on the door. Van Doorn did the same, grim resolve twisting his face. And then the Ethereal floated through the entryway, silent and pristine in its robes. Both soldiers pulled their triggers simultaneously, sending blast after blast of glowing plasma straight at the Ethereal. The creature reflected each one into the wall behind it. Then it spoke to them, not out loud, but telepathically. Kislewski heard the words, but there was something different about them that told her they did not exist outside of her head.

"You have lost. You two are all that remain. Goodbye."

A psychic rift blew apart Kislewski's cover as she managed to dive out of the way. She looked up and saw van Doorn, his armor now badly damaged, lifted into the air by telekinesis. He struggled and fought, but the Ethereal's grip immobilized him as he was lifted towards the ceiling. The voice came again, "You thought you would have all the fun. You shall watch as your comrade dies."

Suddenly Kislewski was grabbed by what felt like a steel hand and lifted next to van Doorn in the air. The steel mask of the Ethereal gazed at her, but in her peripheral vision she saw van Doorn fidgeting, his hands moving behind his back. As the Ethereal turned back to the former U.N. General, the chem grenade he had been priming went off, consuming him in a cloud of green acid that also coated the Ethereal. The screaming began in her head from the Ethereal and out loud from van Doorn as she dropped to the floor and dove for the heavy plasma cannon van Doorn carried. She picked it up and held down the trigger. The shots thudded into the Ethereal, shredding through its armor and connecting with the flesh of the alien. Van Doorn's scream was abruptly cut off as a rift tore his body into pieces and threw them around the room. Kislewski kept firing. The Ethereal advanced towards her, slowed by the impact of plasma. It wasn't enough. Her last shot nearly decapitated the creature, but it managed to grab her arm with a last shudder.

A bright flash of purple light lit the room as the Ethereal's death requiem vaporized Kislewski. The light went out, and all was dark.

 **Outside**

The aliens were definitely some sort of Sectoid. They were much, much taller though, and seemed much closer to human. Kevin fired off a burst at one that popped up out the trees and fired at the group. The plasma went high, but one of the shots from the burst caught it in the neck and its head snapped back. Shaking off the wound, the Sectoid disappeared into the brush again. A shout from his left as one of Lily's people went down to a blast of plamsa to the chest. Then Kevin saw something truly unbelievable. A purple glow touched the soldier and he rose and leveled his gun at Lily. Before he had a chance to yell, a pistol barked six times behind him. The reanimated soldier went down again, perforated by bullet holes. Kevin swung around and saw Bradford, his gun propped on the entrance to The Farm.

One of the Sectoids charged, forcing the four remaining rookies to duck, but as it raised its arm to fire the plasma pistol, the gun sputtered and died. Lily, seeing a disadvantaged alien, charged with her entrenching tool raised. She swung hard and missed, but quickly recovered. Then the Sectoid jumped at her and she cracked its oversized head with the edge of the tool. The alien went down and Lily pumped a sustained. Looking up, Kevin saw a huge supply craft descending on clearing, trying to either take on or offload troopers. He slotted in a fresh magazine, then moved to a better position to shoot into the ship's door. As the ship descended, two front mounted plasma cannons blew apart the transports XCOM had arrived in. Kevin felt his gut sink as the transport landed, sinking into the ground slightly. He ran to the entrance of the Farm and looked down the ladder. Bradford shouted up at him, "We need to get out of here! We might have to foot it!"

"Do you hear the veterans?" Kevin asked. A flash of purple light and the sudden stench of charred flesh told him all he needed to know. He turned back to watch the ramp go down on the ship. But no one got off. Apparently the aliens weren't aware their strike force had been obliterated. A plan formed in his mind. Yelling to the pilot, Bradford, and The Commander, he shouted, "Let's get on that ship! It's the only way out of here. Immediately they began climbing the ladder out of the Farm. Kevin and Lily made their way onboard first, side by side, as they headed away from the ramp towards the front. The Commander, pilot, and Bradford followed, and the last two rookies brought up the rear. The ship was silent. Stepping into an empty room, Kevin slapped the door closed.

"Commander, what's the plan?"

The Commander moved to the table in the middle of the room. He put his hands flat on it, bowed his head, and thought for what seemed like an eternity. Fifteen seconds later he raised his head and began issuing orders rapid-fire. "You three to the cockpit." He pointed to Lily, Kevin, and the pilot. It should be piloted by humans, based on what roles this craft plays. The rest of us-" His hand moved and pointed at the other two rookies "Will be going into the other rooms on the ship and making sure that they're secure. Ricter and Desance will link up with us when the cockpit is secured."

After five minutes of walking through an absolutely silent ship. The pilot tapped Kevin on the shoulder. "We need to draw them out. If we have to go in there, we could destroy the controls." Kevin thought briefly for a moment and then reached over and knocked on the door. Then he and Lily pulled back down the hallway, around the corner, bringing the pilot with them. The cockpit door opened and a pilot in an Advent flight suit stepped into the hallway. Just as he turned his head to look at Kevin, Lily fired a burst. The shots caught the pilot in shoulder and chest, dropping him to the floor, dead. Then Kevin, with his rifle on the ground, charged the cockpit, pistol at the ready. He dove through the door low, and the shots from the second Advent pilot hit the wall in the hallway. Kevin's return fire was accurate and hit the pilot in the head, killing him instantly. Wrestling the body out of the seat, Kevin dragged it into the hallway while the XCOM pilot, whose nametag read "Gumball" began to prepare the ship for launch.

A loud noise from the hallway startled Kevin and Lily, and they immediately took positions to fire towards the corner they had assaulted the cockpit from. Then Bradford and the Commander appeared, running hard. Then something roared and Kevin knew it wasn't human. Rounding the corner after the soldiers was a huge red and white figure. There was blood on its claws. A lot of blood. Kevin began dumping rounds into the legs of the creature, blasting away at its thighs. Lily's rounds caught it around the chest and head but seemingly had no effect. As the beast closed to melee range, the ship suddenly took off, fast. It stumbled and Lily ran towards it. Before Kevin could even yell a warning, she had slammed into its flank and knocked it prone. She raised the entrenching tool over her head and brought it down on the throat of the monster. Blood spurted from the wound and Lily just managed to jump out the way as the claws sought her. Then Bradford dashed back in with a pistol and emptied the magazine into the head of the beast. It screamed louder, then died abruptly.

Four hours later, the ship was in flight above Europe, its transponder deactivated. Bradford, the Commander, Lily and Kevin were gathered in the room where the Commander had set out the plans to take the ship. There had been a brief stop in the countryside of Poland, where they had buried the bodies of the two rookies killed by the massive alien, which Bradford said resembled the berserkers that XCOM had fought 20 years ago. They had also dumped the corpses of the pilots and the berserker deep in a forest, hopefully to remain undiscovered.

Gumball came through the door and sat at the impromptu conference table. "It's on autopilot. What's our destination?"

The Commander was initially silent, then began to speak. "We have two options. We can land this ship somewhere, get off, and fade away. We could even autopilot it into the ocean. The other option is a much longer proposition. We can try to fight them. Bradford and I have done this before. Gumball was there too. We fought off hordes of them and we thought we won. But it wasn't over, and we're not even on square zero anymore. It's closer to square negative fifty. This is the road that I want. We can make it harder for them and they don't know that we still are carrying on the fight. We'll have to hit and run, recruit from people who don't trust the government, and wage war from the shadows. And until we get caught, we'll keep flying."

Kevin spoke first. "Sir, it would be an honor."

Bradford grinned. "Welcome back, Commander"

 **This concludes XCOM: Between the Wars**


End file.
